About The Kitchen

Dani, the qualified chef of 15 years recently opened The Urban Kitchen in Centre Street, after working out of her own home since 2017, starting with a close friend’s wedding cake.

Her designer cake business has quite literally taken off, and she also spends every morning whipping up 80-100 sweet treats for her new shop – some days selling out in just two hours.

“I have help from my sidekick Elle as well as others in the kitchen, which has been a dream. I’ve seen every aspect from starting as a kitchenhand all the way to a tutor.I love the hospo dynamics and all the banter that comes with it.”

Although a self-taught baker from learning cake after cake, Dani’s grandmother Margaret is her number one supporter – having been a cake maker herself, and this is something she has wanted to do from a young age.

The white and dark chocolate varieties are most popular with banana salted caramel a close third, and if she had to choose, Dani would go for her apple and rhubarb cake, “as a wee nod to my dutch heritage on my mother’s side.”

Just thinking about some of the different flavours – vanilla with lemon, dark chocolate and cherry, white chocolate with raspberry, and carrot with apricot is enough to make anyone salivate, but Dani would far rather reach for one of her fresh cabinet treats instead.

Her cakes are all very personalised and take a lot of time and attention, with a full sized wedding cake anywhere up to 10 hours work.
Dani loves getting creative and will often use something personal from the bride, such as the colour of the stone in her ring, as the theme of the cake

“I love experimenting with different colours and textures – I think I have aced the white wedding cake now. It’s time to try some new things. Fingers crossed the wedding season is back on, because every weekend I will be busy with a wedding cake,” she said.

Over the next 18 months she wants to focus on getting her shop up and running well, and is looking for more help so she can concentrate more on cake making – where her passion lies.

Aimee Wilson, 24th August 2021